Shadows of the Darkened Veil

Right at 2 am, Rose woke up and Ravindra was woken up by a servant at the same time, he didn't like the disturbance in his sleep but knowing the gravity of the situation he got up immediately and rushed towards the next door with a little drama, even still Mathew was somehow already there.

"How-How is she?" Ravindra asked normally as if he knew what was going to happen, after all, he was playing the prodigy doctor.

"Hmm… Can't say, looks a little better though" Mathew was checking the nerves of one hand of Rose and then, he looked back and said, "Still, she doesn't answer any questions, just plain and looks a bit scared… Quite complicated if you ask me"

The Butler came rushing, "What do you think lord doctor…?" Looking at Ravindra in anticipation.

"Nothing much… Like I can't say anything, it's not…uh… looks good… We have to…deal with it… you know…" Ravindra avoided saying anything in front of the attendees and servants of the house.

"Understood…" The butler was now calm again, "What… Lord going to do next…?"

"Hmm… I will try to map the… thing…and then, again I will try my best, can't promise much from what I see right now…"

"I will tell Lord Viscount everything…"

"Good night," Ravindra said. At this point, he just wanted to sleep. He was fed up like he had no idea what he was saying, and Butler thought he was some expert in this field. 'Whatever… Mathew's answers always work… I just have to follow the script'

"This butler bids good night to lord…"

'There was so much effort in his good night…huh…anyways…I don't care.' Ravindra went inside the room and held the hand of Rose the same way Mathew was holding, they still needed to act in front of others, even if the two main people knew it, they still wanted the best of the attention from the other people in the house. With a sigh he said, "Rose…uh…she doesn't look so good…"

"At least a little better…hope is still alive…" This was derivatively a plan to start a rumour in the house that the two new doctors had the power to make Rose better.

They went to their rooms and slept, Rose was still awake though, she was not moving and still in the room laying on her bed at least, with her classic pose, hands-on eyes, trying to hide herself or her eyes, or maybe not wanting to be seen by anyone. Maybe she wanted to be alone or something. The curse was still alive inside of her, a part of her…making her a puppet.

In the morning the two new doctors went to do the check-up on Rose, while she was awake and with the classic pose. They did their normal acting and went away for a walk. The butler was with them all the time, the viscount was gone in the early morning for some 'important work', Ravindra asked for some books and gave a list to the butler.

"I will make sure you get these as soon as possible." The butler was sincere in his speech at least.

Mathew started teaching the basics of magic to Ravindra, how to handle his magic and what he was going to do, it was going to be a small lesson as they also needed to talk to the old woman who was the main attendee of Rose.

They ventured a little far into the farm so that no one would see them they were still cautious and talked normally like doctors and Mathew started teaching the new prodigy doctor some lessons on how to effectively use magic on the patient.

"You know the basic… how we have to do a ritual in order to get an affinity… there is always an elemental magic anyone can use though practically impossible to make much difference with that we have to use ethereal magic…

"Before we begin, let's talk about all the known elemental magic: Anemo or kids say wind, Pryo…fire, Fulgurite…lightening, geo…earth type, hydro…water, cryo…which is like a branch of hydro but now it is considered a different category…it is mainly related to ice or snow, ferro…closely related to metal, phyto… poison. There are a few that may not be one of them but they can't be looked down on, natural elemental magic, is mysterious, and only a few people were ever seen with it… One of them is Steward Sysrs. Rest are still quite unknown. Most of the people in the world try to make use of their elemental magic and they try to fuse it with ethereal magic but in your case, it's not so simple, black magic with anemo wasn't seen… Black magic on the other hand is seen as a liquid and with anemo it looks kinda difficult to use… Maybe you can find a way…" Dark magic could use the other elemental magic's properties and with proper spells, it could even use some ethereal magic.

"There are also a lot of categories in ethereal magic… as far as I know there are over 9 known ethereal magic many of us don't know how to get the affinity, your affinity is a good 90, The affinity rating is given on the fact how much concentration of magic someone has, your total affinity is 120 of which 90 is black magic, quite impressive" Ravindra was smiling.

"Then, come levels, your level is two, this defined as your understanding of magic, it is not because you have used your magic but rather it's understanding, or we can say…the more magic you use the more levels you get as the more you understand about the inside of you…the reality of magic. One can calculate levels with the help of a simple orb, with so many years of research data, it is easy to determine the level based on the colour of mana. Levels affect the affinity your body can have, Most failed attempts in ethereal magic give about 30 or 20 affinities, more than 50 is considered successful and above 80 it is considered good. If you were to perform another ritual to gain ethereal magic it is almost certain that it would fail, to get another one you have to wait till your primary affinity which is black magic is less than the empty affinity, in your case it is right now 30. Also, if a ritual is performed, performing it again would get you nothing almost useless. That's why choosing the right ethereal path is really important.

"Many choose enhancement arts, they are simple and they make use of warriors' fighting abilities by providing them with better durable armour or weapons, these enchantments are dependent on the elemental magic of their user, enchantment arts are usually taken by the soldiers, if it comes to raw power than there is no competitor of enchantment arts. It is probably almost every soldier's first choice, that's why it is the most famous ethereal magic among every single one of them, there is also light magic which is considered most suitable for precision tasks like doctors, construction workers or even some soldiers…"

"What about detectives…How is it useful for detectives?"

"I don't know maybe it is… After all, I am not a detective… Moving on there is Resonance magic, mainly based on sound and something like that pretty famous lately, Chronomancy and Gravitavis are also famous but this time it's all about Resonance magic.

"These are the main and famous ethereal magic, then there is spatial magic which is not famous at all, it is quite new there are not many spells derived from it which makes it almost impossible to use in real-life situations."

"Hmm… Pretty interesting, how does elemental magic affect ethereal magic or vice versa."

"It's pretty simple if you think about it, for example, if you were to pair anemo with resonance magic, then, you can almost fly with vibrations it is kind of a new thing, now that everyone wants to fly, they make sure that their elemental magic has some practical use in their ethereal magic like the way anemo helps in stabilizing Resonance magic in the air such that it can even help them fly.

"In my case, I have a mastery over Hydromancy with light magic and Resonance magic as a doctor they are useful, light magic helps in regulating the temperature of hydromancy and with its various spells which keep regulating the quantity and quality of water, resonance magic helps me get a vivid image of internal organs of my patients, it helps in moving water inside of Patient the way I want. There are various uses some of which we are unable to see, it is said that there are countless possibilities in the world where magic can be used the way you want, magic is said to be some sort of imagination, the better you can imagine the better spells you can create, embody them into a ring, you can use them at will… This is the beauty of the magic.

"You might not know this but 6000 years ago enchantment magic was looked down upon by almost everyone but soon they realised its real potential and now it's the most favourite ethereal magic in the world.

"The ritual magic is also called real magic and elemental magic is called companion magic. Most of the time it is always real magic that is useful but elemental magic also makes quite a difference still, your capabilities depend upon your understanding of elemental magic and ethereal magic. Many times it is considered by level though it's not the best way to calculate the strength of someone. Someone might have something nasty up their sleeves, it can be a signature spell that could make them stronger against some and might be weaker against a few. It is said that every ethereal magic has a balance, there is said to be no strongest ethereal magic in the world…"

"And uh… That thing's bugging me, that affinity is why some people get less affinity and some get a lot… Like I got 90 and if someone got 60 then, what's the difference."

"The affinity is said to be dependent on the ritual method you used and also many times on luck… If someone has 60 affinity they would have less mana of that ethereal category, generally, it is represented as mana for example let's say someone is left with 10 mana, which essentially means that person has 10 affinity left of his ethereal magic category.

"Well, I guess that is enough for the start we will practice your training tonight onwards… you have to make sure that Rose lives on…" It was like a code ward for them, Rose lives on means that they had to get the information out of Visocunt and kill him if possible.

"I will do my best" Ravindra smiled.

They were not taking the viscount easily they made their code wards in advance to make sure that a silly mistake might not ruin the whole plan. Sometimes staying extra cautious helps a lot, it gives mental peace and some kind of a guarantee that our work will succeed, and it can be considered important.

"Let's go meet at old lady, she said to talk about this time right?" Ravindra shrugged.

"I don't remember clearly… Let's just go, she wouldn't say, would she?

"Yeah let's go…"

After reaching the mansion they checked upon Rose again and Mathew still looked not impressed, he was not satisfied with her sighs of recovery. Ravindra also did his part of acting and after making a disappointed look on his face doing more drama than Mathew, he went up to the old lady.

"You wanted to say something?"

"Uh… How…is she…? She is going to be alright…Right?" She was a Nordic woman, with silvery white hair, and her dress was normal similar to other workers in the house. Her face was filled with wrinkles.

"Can't promise anything…" Mathew came to join the conversation.

"You had something to tell us…?"

"Yes… It's about her curse… I know a little about it… I know what it is…" It was enough for both of them to be one hundred per cent attentive to the old lady, their brows frowned at the same time.